Everybody can tell you how to do it, but they’ve never done it.
I’ve never looked at myself and said that I need to be a certain way to be around a certain sort of people. I’ve always wanted to stay true to myself, and I’ve managed to do that. People have to accept that.
Only he without sin can tell me if my means justify my ends.
I got mouths to feed til they put flowers on me.
The genius thing that we did was, we didn’t give up.
Hip-hop has done so much for racial relations, and I don’t think it’s given the proper credit. It has changed America immensely. I’m going to make a very bold statement: Hip-hop has done more than any leader, politician, or anyone to improve race relations.
I’d rather die enormous than live dormant.
Everything evens up, you just wait, Even a garbage can gets a steak, You ain’t even a garbage can, you have faith!
We change people through conversation, not through censorship.
Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run. Obama’s running so we all can fly.
Leave a mark they can’t erase, neither space nor time.
I look in the mirror, my only opponent.
You can put a new shirt on your back, slide a fresh chain around your neck, and accumulate all the money and power in the world, but at the end of the day those are just layers. Money and power don’t change you, they just further expose your true self.
Without the work, the magic won’t come.
Be true to yourself- and keep things simple. People complicate things.
You can want success all you want, but to get it, you can’t falter. You can’t slip. You can’t sleep. One eye open, for real, and forever.
I’m a mirror. If you’re cool with me, I’m cool with you, and the exchange starts. What you see is what you reflect. If you don’t like what you see, then you’ve done something. If I’m standoffish, that’s because you are.
I thought I would be more inspired to have all these new feelings to talk about, but I really just want to hang out with my daughter.
In trouble waters I had to learn how to float.
I’m not afraid of dying, I’m afraid of not trying.